Four local school pupils have taken a break from lessons to visit Meadowcare Home, a care home in Bristol. The 11 and 12 year-olds, all from the same Year 7 art class at Redmaids' High School, are joining a group of residents for a painting session.

This is a Paint Pals party run by Alive!, a charity that organises meaningful activities in care homes across south and south-west England, as well as training staff. Much of their work brings people with dementia and young people together.

Through the Paint Pals programme, which launched in 2012, students and residents paint and exchange postcards to learn more about each other before meeting in person. They then work together on pieces of art, all on chosen themes.

'We were struck by how rarely, if ever, we saw children in care homes, and how our culture separates the generations by caring for many of our older people away from their communities,' says Simon Bernstein, chief executive of Alive!

'We were inspired to create a project to bridge the generations with a goal to create meaningful and lasting community connections, improve the happiness and wellbeing of care home residents, and increase their social interaction with younger people.'